Kyle Petrie's first trip to the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn's culminated in a top ten finish for the Lakewood High School junior from Sunfield.

Petrie wasn't far off a second-place finish in the 450 C class last weekend, racing to third and second place finishes in the first two of the three motos, run Wednesday morning and Thursday evening. He earned a bronze medal for his third-place time in his first ever moto at the event, Aug. 31. He followed that up by earning a silver medal in the worst track conditions of the weekend in what was the final race of the day Thursday.

Tyler Foster from Cullodgen, Ga., was just over two seconds behind Kristian Robinson from Newport, N.C., at the end of the first lap of the first moto of the competition. Foster was in first place at the end of each of the final 20 laps of the three moto competition.

Only Foster was ahead of Petrie in the standings heading into the final moto Saturday, but Petrie went down twice after the opening lap. He managed to make up a few positions over the final few laps, but finished in 29th place.

“All three motos I was off to a bad start, but the last one I had a terrible start,” Petrie said. “I pulled a muscle in my leg right off the start and then on the second or third lap someone took me out. I was down to 20-something. A lap later I crashed trying to pass someone, and I got hit, so I was down to like 36th. I made my way all the up to 29th from there.”

That put him in ninth place overall for the event, out of 42 riders in the class. Petrie said Foster was the one who was getting good starts.

“The dirt is different,” Petrie said. “I'm used to stuff up here, and down there it is a lot faster. Up here my tire would spin more. Down there, I was popping wheelies off the start. That is not a good thing to do.”

Nerves had a bit to do with the slowish starts as well. Petrie said he was shaking an hour or two before the start of his first moto. He said those nerves calmed down after the first moto.

One he was moving, Petrie was as good as anybody in the class. He ripped off a time of 2 minutes 5.511 seconds seconds in the second lap of his first moto, the fastest lap of that race by anyone. He closed out his second moto with a time of 2:09.204 on the final lap, recording the fastest lap of that race as well.

“It was fun. Down there it is always a good atmosphere. It is pretty fun having a ton of people there and everyone on their bikes. It is so much fun,” Petrie said.

He hopes to get back to the Loretta Lynn's in the future, looking to move up into the 450 B class next year.